${)C $Ebcning plat*
With Sunday Morntne Edition.
I'”-'
THEODORE W. NOYES, Editor,
WASHINGTON, D. C.
TUESDAY,.June 4, 1940
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■ 'I . __■ -■■■■,
Bombing Paris
When the first World War began
In the summer of 1914, it was antici
pated that the Germans would attack
the capitals of Great Britain and
France. Such assaults had been
threatened, and the promise shortly
was fulfilled. Within a fortnight a
Taube appeared over Paris and
dropped a bomb which wrecked a
butcher shop and killed two civilians
employed there. The death of these
pioneer victims of Prussian barbar
ism profited their murderers little.
Probably, the sponsors of the crime
regarded it as merely experimental
in character. During the months
which followed, aerial bombardment
of London as well as Paris became
habitual. The result was largely
psychological. It made the peoples
of the Allied countries “fighting
mad.” The same effect was achieved
by the operators of the prodigious
cannon known as “Big Bertha,” an
Instrument of destruction created,
theoretically, to devastate the French
metropolis. It projected shells sev
enty-five miles, but it did not demol
ish the morale of the French nation.
The danger of more systematic
bombing of great cities, however, was
not ignored by those charged with
their defense in the period between
1918 and the outbreak of the second
World War last September. Will
Irwin, an American newspaperman,
wrote in 1921 this prophecy of hor
ror: “A better way of breaking up
the ‘resistance of the rear’ would be
to exterminate not the human Paris
but the physical Paris. That could
be done in one gigantic conflagration
started by inextinguishable chemicals
dropped from a few aircraft. The
method is practicable even now, in
the infancy of chemical warfare;
and the military chemists of Europe
are experimenting further along
these lines. Such a campaign, of
course, would not be confined to
Paris, although Paris, as a center
for the brains of war, as the most
vital knot in the railway web and a
great factory city, is eminently im
portant. It would be aimed also at
Lyons and St. Etienne, great manu
facturing cities; at Marseilles, Cher
bourg, rflvre and Bordeaux, the great
ports, at a hundred little cities which
do their part in making munitions.
• • * Imagine Paris suddenly be
come a superheated furnace in a
hundred spots; imagine a swift rush
of flame through every quarter;
imagine the population struggling,
piling up. shriveling with the heat;
imagine the survivors ranging the
open fields in the condition of starv
ing animals.”
Mr. Irwin’s vision now is being
Justified. The events of yesterday
and the events of last week prove
that his expectation was susceptible
of realization. He “dreamed true,’’
and contemporaries mourn his ac
curacy.
Yet the struggle between the total
itarian Nazis and the democracies
cannot be decided by the willful
wrecking of whole communities of
Innocent men, women and children.
Certainly, a government might be
terrorized into surrender and the
aggressor might claim a triumph;
but the fruits of victory could not
be gathered by the conqueror. That
has been demonstrated in China,
where Japan has gained nothing but
“burnt earth” and the undying
hatred of a population which, despite
Its losses, continues to increase in
numbers and in pressure cower.
Bay Ferry Fares
Washingtonians as well as Mary
landers who use the Claiborne-An
napolis Ferry will regard the rate
cut ordered by the Maryland Public
Service Commission as inadequate.
The cut provides for a reduction of
40 per cent in the passenger fares
charged by the ferry company. It
makes no change in the rates‘charged
for automobiles, which constitute the
bulk of the firm's business.
This means that motorists who use
the ferry to reach Maryland’s East
ern Shore will continue to pay a
minimum of $1.50 one way. which is
the rate charged for a light car and
driver. A fee of $2 is charged for a
heavy car and driver. If the motor
ist has one or morp passengers along
they will now be charged thirty cents
each for a one-way trip and fifty
cents a round trip. The former rate
for passengers was fifty cents one
way and eighty-five cents a round
trip. It is estimated that the reduc
tion ordered will reduce the com
pany’s income about $36,000 a year,
but from the public's standpoint a
rate reduction that does not apply to
I automobiles carried on the ferry la
inadequate.
The commission’s rate reduction
order was accompanied by one fixing
a $1,038,000 valuation on the ferry
company’s property. As the company
sought a $1,900,000 valuation, a pro
test is anticipated, especially in view
of the fact the firm probably will
seek a larger sum if the State should
purchase its property. The Public
Service Commission presumably did
its best to render an equitable ruling,
but it is apparent that neither the
company nor the public is likely to
accept its orders as satisfactory.
Presidential Power
As has been the case with so many
other phases of this Nation’s belated
and still inadequate effort to safe
guard its vital interests in a war
crazed world, a teapot tempest is
being whipped up around President
Roosevelt's request for authority, in
the absence of Congress, to call a
portion of the National Guard into
< active service.
To Senator Taft, Republican, of
Ohio, the steps which have been
taken in the defense program consist
primarily of a demand for “more
power for the Executive, without any
detailed explanation as to why that
power is necessary or whether it is
really going to be used.” With that
point of view, The Star is in complete
disagreement.
The question of the extent to which
Congress should go at this time in
delegating unusual powers to the
President Is one which should be
considered dispassionately and im
partially. The Star, as the readers
of its columns well know, has not and
does not approve many of the Presi
dent's internal economic policies and
experiments. But it holds, in the
light of existing conditions which
menace the entirety of our national
concept of life, that it is blind folly
to withhold that full and unified
national backing which the present
critical emergency demands merely
because the President himself has
been guilty in the past of actions
which tend to impair that concept.
Dissent from and opposition to
extravagant, unsound and poten
tially ruinous policies in the field of
domestic economy is one thing. But
a failure at this time to subordinate
such opposition to the man who, for
good or ill, must lead the Nation
during at least the next seven months
of crisis, is to imperil the defense of
the country.
There is nothing unnatural or
ominous in the fact that prepara
tions to defend this country should
result in the granting of increased
powers to the President. And the
scope of his powers necessarily will
be broadened as each step is taken
in the direction of adequate prepara
tion for the possibility of war. Yet
it must be realized that a failure to
delegate these powers to the Execu
tive, as events have shown, results
in an inadequacy of preparedness
which, in turn, leads to war and
dictatorship. That has been the
tragic experience of England and
France—nations which now are pay
ing a terrible penalty because they
refused to intrust any individual
with the power to perfect their de
fenses until they stood in the shadow
of destruction.
What objections are there, after
all, to empowering the President, in
the absence of Congress, to call the
National Guard into active service?
Are not the fears of thp critics of
this proposal more imaginary than
real?
The Guard is the traditional sup
plementary body upon which America
depends for her land defenses. In
event of war the Guardsmen would
immediately be called upon. But
unless they receive intensive and
effective training before the calamity
comes—if come it must—they will
be ineffective, unhardcned and inept
for many months after they are
called to arms. If Congress is un
willing to authorize the President to
determine when the members of the
Guard should be called out for this
essential intensive training, particu
larly in the tactical use of the
modern weapons of land warfare,
or for any other purpose for which
the Guard is intended, then Congress
should proceed promptly on its own
responsibility to call this reserve
force to active duty.
ii tne time comes wnen tne un
trained man power of this Nation
as a whole must be summoned to
defend our country and the con
tinent we will need a trained National
Guard, one ready to go into action
at once. There will be no time for
training in this era of undeclared
wars if we wait until an aggressor
decides to strike.
To approve the expenditure of bil
lions of dollars for the mobilization
of our national industry to produce
the cannon, planes, tanks and other
arms we need would be useless and
foolish unless simultaneously we
train and toughen an army of at
least the size of our combined full
strength Regular forces plus our full
strength National Guard. And the
prompt approval of such a course
would do more to impress upon this
Nation and the rest of the world our
realistic and uncompromising deter
mination to prepare ourselves effec
tively and swiftly to meet aggression
than would any other course that we
might pursue. It would prove to all
that we are not content with merely
appropriating funds and spending
them on munitions, but that we also
are willing and determined to pre
pare the man power of our democ
racy to deal with any totalitarian
threat to our freedom.
We are now facing the precise type
of emergency for which the Guard
has been supported and intended for
generations. If It is not called upon
to prepare swiftly for any eventuality,
its members, If the worst comes, will
pay the penalty of all untrained sol
diers. They will be massacred by the
thousands because they were not
ready, and the responsibility will rest
squarely upon those of our leaders
who today are opposed to the taking
of elemental precautions.
This outcry on the part of the
short-sighted against reasonable and
sensible preparedness probably will
grow louder as we move forward, and
through it all the American people
should keep clearly in mind the trag
edy of France and Britain. They
were not ready when their zero hour
arrived and they are paying for the
folly of their politicians in blood and
misery which is almost beyond com
prehension. Let us not deceive our
selves. Their dreadful experience
will be repeated here unless political
opportunism is recognized and repu
diated whenever it shows itself in the
policies of our leaders, whether Re
publicans or Democrats.
The Flag Salute
The decision of the Supreme Court
upholding the right of a Pennsyl
vania school board to require public
school children to salute the Ameri
can flag daily, at the opening of
classes, is not to be looked upon as
weakening the stand the court has
taken in defense of civil liberties.
In this instance the regulation,
imposed without exception on all
pupils to encourage respect for the
flag as the symbol of national unity,
was challenged on behalf of two
children affiliated with the religious
organization known as Jehovah's
Witnesses, who were expelled from
school for refusal to participate in
the rite. They contended it violated
the tenet of their faith based on the
Biblical injunction against worship
of “graven images.” This plea was
upheld by the lower courts and the
school board appealed.
The question thus posed for the
Supreme Court was whether such an
avowed religious belief was sufficient
to exempt the holders from a com
mon exercise with their fellows
which those in authority deemed a
proper means for strengthening the
attachment of the young to the in
stitutions of their Nation.
Speaking through Mr. Justice
Frankfurter, eight members of the
court said that the requirement was
consonant with the general good;
that it served to foster the spirit of
national unity which is the basis of
national security and that it did not
abridge that freedom of worship
guaranteed by the Constitution.
In effect, the court was reaffirming
and applying a “rule of reason” to
the doctrine of civil liberties. In this
case, the majority did not feel that
the facts made out a substantial case
for impairment of religious freedom,
and it was for that reason that the
regulation was upheld. But the
ruling does not mean that the safe
guards against impairment of free
dom of worship have been relaxed
in the slightest degree.
With customary vigor, Justice
Stone dissented, declaring the re
ligious convictions of the children
were violated by the board regula
tion, and that other methods are
open for inculcating the loyalty and
patriotism from which national unity
springs.
Dr. Moton
There are many famous names
which must be mentioned in any
definitive history of the Negro race
in America, and among the number
that of Robert Russa Moton should
be included. He was the protege of
Booker T. Washington at Tuskegee
Institute and succeeded him as presi
dent there in 1915. But he also was
closely associated with the pioneer
work at Hampton, where he had
the guidance of Brigadier General
Samuel Chapman Armstrong and of
the Rev. Dr. Hollis Burke Frissell.
From these friends, as well as
from the most gifted and distin
guished leader of his own people, he
acquired a practical philosophy for
the advancement of the colored
community in the United States.
“You and I,” Dr. Moton told his
students, “belong to an undeveloped,
backward race that is rarely for its
own sake taken into account in the
adjustment of man’s relation to man,
but is considered largely with ref
erence to the impression which it
makes upon the dominant Anglo
Saxon. The question which the
Nation must face and the Negro, as
a part of the Nation, must soberly
and dispassionately consider, is the
mutual, social, civic and industrial
adjustment of two races, differing
widely in characteristics and diverse
in physical peculiarities, but alike
suspicious and alike jealous and
more or less prejudiced each toward
the other. I believe that, unless
democracy is a failure, it is entirely
practicable for the white and the
black races of America to develop
side by side in mutual helpfulness
toward each other, each making its
own contributions to the wealth and
culture of our beloved country.”
This, surely, is an honorable doc
trine. From it vast good already has
come. No other race anywhere at
any time has made more rapid or
more convincing progress in health,
wealth, culture, spiritual evolution.
It is evidence of the essential
strength and vigor of the African
stock in the new world that it has
prospered, and it likewise is testi
mony to the elemental liberality of
the white majority that its growth
has been aided so generously and so
consistently.
Dr. Moton was a bridge between his
people and their neighbors. He will
be remembered by both groups for
his services to the ideals which they
, share.
Of Stars, Men
And Atoms
Notebook of Science Progress
In Field, Laboratory
And Study
By Thomas R. Henry.
Possibility of a mass paranoia afflict
ing the American people in the face of
the European disaster is voiced by Dr.
Harry Stack Sullivan, noted New York
and Washington psychiatrist and presi
dent of the William A. White Psychiatric
Foundation.
Paranoia, when it afflicts an individual,
is considered the most dangerous and
intractable of all diseases of the mind.
It is marked chiefly by delusions that
one is being persecuted and leads to
many murders. It is extremely difficult
to detect because in every other respect
the victim appears perfectly sane and
as a result paranoiacs often remain at
large until they have killed their sup
posed enemies.
The general paranoid reaction, Dr.
Sullivan said in an interview, is a natural
result of the human organism to panic
and there are increasing signs that the
setting is being established in the United
States for a mild but nonetheless terrible
epidemic which will confuse national
defense preparations and lead to much
needless suffering.
“We hear a great deal,” said Dr. Sul
livan, "of war hysteria. Actually there
is no evidence of increasing hysteria in
the United States nor, so far as I have
been able to learn, in Europe. We must
define our words. Hysteria is a specific
syndrome—an overdramatized reaction
which accomplishes a purpose one does
not care to admit to others or even to
one's self. The so-called 'shell shock' is
a typical example. A soldier wants to
escape danger, but he cannot run away
without branding himself as a coward.
So he developes a paralysis of some sort
and has to be sent to a hospital.
inis is not what we have to fear at
present. We are developing instead a
multitude of mild panics—chaotic, pur
poseless mass reactions of terror which
accomplish no purpose to the advantage
of the individual. The stage was set for
it through the great depression. Mil
lions of individuals were overwhelmed
by a sense of economic insecurity. Still
society kept its organization. The lives
of individuals were not seriously threat
ened. There was a persistent faith that
the bad times would pass and justice
would prevail in the end. There have
been hysterical reactions, but no panic.
Such a phenomenon as the amazing
growth of certain religious cults without
much basis in reason has been a hys
terical reaction.
“But the panic reaction did not set in
until recently. I first became alarmed
about it at the time of the 'Men of Mars'
broadcast. The purposeless, irrational,
chaotic fear that was reported hardly
would have resulted in normal times. It
showed that the seeds of panic had been
sown in the minds of the American peo
ple. I am afraid it was only a sign of
worse things to come unless something
is done at once, and it is up to the
psychiatrists of the country to devise
some program to forestall them.”
Paranoia, Dr. Sullivan stressed, de
velopes out of the panic state. There is
an unbearable feeling of insecurity. The
mind turns with hatred against this in
security and seeks to find a cause for it.
The chances are that the cause, whether
assessed rightly or wrongly, is something
i against which the individual is helpless.
In the present case, Dr. Sullivan pointed
out. it probably would be the German
Empire. Hate of the German Empire is
rather futile, so far as any one person is
concerned. He cannot do anything about
it. So the hate is narrowed down to
something or somebody that cap be made
a symbol of the German Empire—such as
an individual German, a person with a
German name, or anybody that the vic
tim of the paranoid delusion doesn't
like. The result is persecution and,
perhaps, murder. The paranoiac likes
to kill two birds with one stone. He can
satisfy his hate against Germany, and
thus relieve his panic, by hitting at
somebody he doesn't like whom he can
rationalize into an agent of Germany.
‘ I am afraid,” said Dr. Sullivan, “that
we are going to have some terrible times
in this country. I am fully aware of
the danger of fifth column activities in
the United States. Perhaps it is worse
than it has ever been painted. But one
can do anything with words. With the
underlying state fo incipient panic any
body can be rationalized into a fifth col
umnist. If the authorities will not act,
the self-deluded patriot will be inclined
to take the law into his own hands.”
This, Dr. Sullivan fears, may be only a
beginning.
‘ Of course, I can’t speculate,” he said,
“on the prospects of America getting
into the war. But I do not think any
body would deny that the present con
flict in case of a German victory would
have very great economic and social
repercussions here. There may be a
long period of readjustment. The pros
pects of preserving the kind of society
we want to preserve are none too good
if this generalized panic and the para
noid reactions resulting from it cannot
be prevented. We will have to cope with
an ever-accumulating confusion of il
logical hatreds.”
Individual paranoia, which carries its
victim to the extremes of murder. Dr.
Sullivan said, usually results from some
insecurity within the person—a feeling
of helplessness to cope with various
anti-social drives which are in intoler
able conflict with the conscience. One
wants to fight but cannot, for the phan
toms of one’s own mind offer nothing
to hit at. One can’t shoot a hormonal
configuration. A way out of the mess,
always subconscious, is to personalize
the drives in the person of some other
individual and proceed to stick a knife
in his back. *
But, said Dr. Sullivan, while this is
the theory of many psychiatrists they
fail to realize that insecurity and the
resulting panic may be due to causes
outside the person’s own psychic make
up. Most persons have occasional slight
paranoid reactions which seldom result
in any real damage to anybody. The
type of paranoia which arises from
causes outside the self, he stressed,
usually is mild and fleeting. But when
millions are reacting in the same way
at the same time and encouraging each
other the results may be unimaginably
bad.
"The task before the psychiatrists of
THIS AND THAT
By Charles E. Tracewell.
"HYATTSVILLE, Md.
"Dear Sir:
"I’ve been getting a great deal of en
joyment from reading your articles in
The Evening Star these past two months.
Before that I hadn’t even noticed there
was such a column in my paper.
"Until this spring we have always
had chickens, a dog, or a cat to take bits
of bread and other scraps.
"But one day, one of our boys left a
piece of bread on the back porch railing
and we saw a big squirrel sitting there
eating it, so we started leaving bits of
bread for the squirrels.
“Then we began to see sparrows, star
lings, blue jays, robins, cardinals, and
now for about a week Mr. Tanager and
his wife have been coming every morning
and I have walked right out on the
porch and he sits there on the railing
watching me and doesn’t move.
"His wife is more shy. There has also
been a tiny black bird with gray breast
and a crest'on his head. I don’t know
his name; and a slightly larger brown
bird whose name is unfamiliar to me.
“Daddy, our six boys (ages 8 to 22) and
I enjoy tiptoeing to the back door to
find out if our tanager, or perhaps some
new bird, is on the porch.
“Today we found Mrs. Cardinal sit
ting on a nest in the brush along the line
fence. "Sincerely, O. F. C.”
* * * *
Interest in the birds and the quieter
things of life often creeps up on one.
Suddenly, before one knows it, one has
an entirely new joy in life.
Then one wonders how it ever hap
pened that so much enjoyment was
missed before.
It is so with flowers, particularly such
blooms as those of the gladiolus. Thou
sands of persons with perfectly good
eyesight look at these, and yet actually
never see them. Somehow they have no
interest in them. Not having it, in a
peculiar sense, they really fail to see the
wonders of these flowers.
One day they happen to look into a
florist's w’indow, where a great vase of
Picardy i$ displayed.
All at once, almost in a flash, the
gazer says to himself, “Why, I didn’t
realize gladioluses looked as beautiful as
those spikes there!"
And a new "glad fan" is born.
* * * *
So it is with birds.
All of us have seen birds all our lives,
listened to their songs, and read about
them, now and then, without necessarily
finding them creatures of supreme in
terest.
If you were to ask the average person
if he “liked birds," no doubt he would
say he did, without once caring a whoop
about them, or really finding anything of
peculiar interest in them.
The magic touch must get in its good
Letters to the Editor
Stresses Importance of
Training for War.
To the Editor of The Star:
I have read that the C. C. C. boys are '
to be trained as non-combatant work
ers in the armament program. What ]
Insidious whispering has reached the
ears of Congress and our President which
causes them to believe that they are
catering to our desires in not insisting
on military training?
I am a wife and a mother. Like every
other right thinking American, I hate 1
war, but if my choice is to be war or a
Nazi world I will choose war. If my
sacrifice is to be my husband and my
sons I pray God I will make it as bravely :
as the women of France and England j
are making it now. But as a mother I
want my sons trained and I feel sure
that other women share my desire.
Millions are being raised for guns
and planes, but who is to use them?
Enough of this namby-pamby talk of i
non-combatant training. We have al
ready faced the fact that war for us is
probable, and when it comes our men
will have to fight, be they college boys,
C. C. C., W. P. A. or farmers. We need
an army, so why not have a good one?
To whose advantage is the last-minute
drafting of untrained soldiers? Why
not give our men a fighting chance and
train them? MRS. E. L.
May 31.
Test of Justice Should Be
Rule in Legislation.
To the Editor of The Star:
In all the pages of history It has
been evident that statesmen and diplo
matists habitually have ignored the de
mands of justice. They have believed
that the decalogue applied to the con
duct of men with each other but not to
the affairs of nations. Since the begin
ning of time it has been assumed that
governments could covet, steal and kill
with impunity, exactly as the German
government is doing today. As a matter
of fact, however, wrong doing by a
America,” said Dr. Sullivan, "is particu
larly difficult because there was never a
time which called for such intelligent
alertness as the present, such constant
vigilance for the slightest indication of
subversive activity. Balanced against
this is the vital necessity of preserving
our own form of society.
“Dealing with an individual mild para
noid reaction, such as is met with almost
daily, is a simple matter. The usual
technique would be simply to present an
opposite hypothesis. If somebody is
berating another person as the cause of
some misfortune, and his complants do
not seem to be very logical, you have a
heart-to-heart talk with the fellow and
try to present him with an opposite
hypothesis. It might have happened
some other way, you tell him, without
the individual who is blamed being in
the least culpable. But how are you go
ing to sit down and have such a heart
to-heart talk with the American people,
knowing all the time that the utmost
care must be used not to cause any re
laxing of vigilance?”
The impact of the war on the mind
of Europe, Dr. Sullivan believes, still is
impossible to assess. Its victims, for the
most part, have been too busy to go
crazy. One doesn’t develop delusions
running from an enemy, but only in the
more terrible aftermath when there is
[ time to think about it. , j
Letters to the Editor must
near the name and address of
the writer, althouqh the use of
a pseudonym for publication is
permissible. Please be brief!
government is punished just as certainly
as is wrong doing by an individual.
Had the foundation for the Versailles
Treaty been laid in justice instead of
hatred and vindicativeness and had the
United States of America become a
member of the League of Nations at
an expense of a few thousand dollars,
the billions now being expended for
armament would doubtless have been
saved. As it was, the league without
the United States was like the play of
Hamlet without Hamlet, like an arch
without a keystone. The truth is that
we were pikers, and all because of
political animosity against President
Wilson on the part of a few United
States Senators. It will be well if the
government shall make the test of
justice the rule in all future legislation.
This would involve an immense amount
of repeal legislation.
HENRY WARE ALLEN.
Wichita, Kans.
May 28.
Poems Printed in Star
Win Appreciation.
To the Editor of The Star:
Your corner of poetry is a great com
fort to many of us. I know those who
seek it out eagerly upon first opening
the paper. As for myself, I am keeping
a scrap book of these poems, some of
which I recall with particular enjoy
ment. Among these h'ave been ‘'Flight,”
Inez Barclay Kirby; ‘‘Rain,” Barbara
Schmitt Whitney; ‘‘The Happy House
wife.” H. P. Stoddard, and, more re
cently, “The Argonaut,” Eleanor Fay,
and “The Whitest Lamb.” Branson
Blake. A READER.
May 28.
Citizens Urged to Start
“March of Dollars.”
To the Editor of The Star:
The greatest tragedy of all times now
going on in Europe is having its reper
cussions in the hearts of all red-blooded
Americans.
It’s true we do not wish to send our
men tp the battle front if we can pos
sibly avoid it, but there is a way we can
help the brave men who are fighting our
battle as well as their own.
Our President has asked Congress for
money with which to defend our country
and I, as a World War veteran, advocate
that we as patriotic Americans imme
diately inaugurate a plan called “The
March of Dollars.”
There are millions of us who can send
to President Roosevelt $1 or as much as
we can spare.
We must not overlook the true fact
that a fundamentally important'part of
our own defense is in sending all the
aid we can to the Allies—our gifts could
serve that end.
Let’s begin now and send all we can
to the White House before it is too late.
May 31. PERCY T. BROWN.
Approves Editorial on
Aid for AlUes.
to the Editor of The Star:
I am in complete accord with your
editorial on “Aid for the Allies” appear
ing in The Evening Star Thursday, May
30. MARIE O. rULLAM.
May 30.
work before any one Is Interested In
anything. We are all constantly ex
posed to a thousand and one Interests,
with only a few of them really "taking.”
We see a stamp addict poring over his
albums, and we say, “Yes, stamps, very
Interesting—when do we eat?”
* * * *
The aquarium enthusiast strikes the
aver*ge person as about the ultimate in
something or other.
"What! Fool around with little fishes!”
Then, on a bright spring morning, one
decides to dig a little pool in the back
yard.
After it is done, something seems lack
ing—a couple of goldfish, to be sure.
And a “fish fan” is born. When fall
comes, the goldfish are taken indoors—
after which a succession of tanks appears
in the living room, dining room, kitchen
and even upstairs, until the owner seems
to have established a pet store.
That is what real interest will do for
you. Every one knows how it is. It is
something which works in all fjflds and
walks of life. It is not confined to pets
at all, but works its magic even more
in books, music, art.
w
It is always some one thing, or event,
which opens one’s eyes to a particular
interest.
In birdland, it is often just the moving
to the suburbs.
Suburban living will open even the
most obdurate eyes to some of the won
ders of the great outdoors, among which
the birds must be counted as perhaps
the chief. '
Next to he fresh air and the sunshine,
that is. How wonderful is the sun, yet
how often we forget it. Surely, the re
cent gray winter, and rainy days, showed
many persons that sunshine, is, indeed,
among our chief wonders.
And that clean smell of fresh air—how
good it is, but how easily missed, espe
cially if one is inclined to studious ways,
and is by no means athletic.
“I don't know what to do outdoors,”
such a one says, sincerely enough.
Well, do nothing, just sit, if necessary,
but get out if you possibly can.
Fresh air and sunshine, together, con
stitute the greatest tonic in the world.
We all know that, theoretically, but how
many of us put it into practice?
We know one resident of nearby
Maryland who has increased his lunch
bill from 10 cents to 45 cents simply by
sitting in the sunshine for two or three
hours a day.
He looks and feels 100 per cent better,
without one drop of medicine. He had
known about fresh air and sunshine all
his life, but had not tried them for a
long time.
It is the same with birds.
Thousands of persons have still to
feel their magic presence, although they
have been surrounded by them all their
lives.
Answers
To Questions
By Frederic J. Haskln.
A reader can get the answer to any
question of fact by writing The Eve
ning Star Information Bureau, Fred
eric J. Haskin, director, Washington,
D. C. Please inclose stamp for reply.
Q. How many Republican and Demo
cratic delegates are there to the national
conventions?—O. H. C.
A. There are 1,003 delegates of the
Republican party while the Democratic
party is represented by 1,094 delegates.
Q. Are the Rhodes Scholarships still
being given?—H. T. R.
A. The American Rhodes Scholarships
were suspended by the Rhodes trustees
in September, 1939, as a result of the war.
Q. What profession in “Who’s Who in
America” is represented by the largest
percentage of college graduates?—S. E. J.
A. Physicians represent the highest of
any profession, 100 per cent being col
lege graduates. Teachers and professor!
are next with 96.9 per cent.
Q. Who said “Gone where the wood
bine twineth”?—J. M. R.
A. The expression was used by James
Fisk at the congressional investigation
of Black Friday, during which he re
ferred to the money he had lost in the
attempt to corner gold.
Q. How long after the 1849 California
gold rush began did the Government
begin to issue deeds on staking claims?—
B. D. H.
A. The earliest California Government
mineral patents (deeds; were dated in
1868. Substantially, the current Federal
mining legislation dates from the act of
May 10, 1872.
Q. Does locust wood wear well when
used for fence posts?—S. D.
A. Locut is very durable and will last
at least 20 years.
Q. What were the three most popular
songs of 1939?—G. K. 2.
A. The “Beer Barrel Polka,” “South of
the Border” and “Deep Purple" were the
leading song hits of the year.
Q. Where was the first automobile
speedway in the United States?—E. B. C.
A. The Indianapolis Speedway, the
first of its kind, was begun in 1909 and
completed in 1910. The first interna
tional speedway 500-mile race wa% run
there in 1911.
Q. What percentage of bridge players
use the Culbertson system?—J. D. G.
A. This system is used by over 90 per
cent of the estimated 15,000,000 followers
of the game.
Q. Please give the names of the days
of the week in French.—A. B.
A. Sunday, dimanche; Monday, lundi;
Tuesday, mardi; Wednesday, mercredl;
Thursday, jeudi; Friday, vendredi; Sat
urday, samedi.
Q. What capital cities are located on
the Equator?—M. D.
A. Quito, the capital of Ecuador, Is
the only such city situated on tha
Equator.
Q. How-long did it take to frame th*
Constitution of the United States?—W.
H. P.
A. It was drafted in fewer than 100
working days.
Q Has any American received a Croix
de Guerre in the present war?—T. F. N.
A. The first American in the present
conflict to be awarded the Croix da
Guerre was Arthur M. Stratton, a driver
with the American Voluntary Ambu
lance Corps in France.
Q. What is the noun that describes
words descriptive of sounds such as bab
ble. cuckoo, croak and purr?—?*. J. H.
A. Onomatopoeia is the term applied
to the formation of words in imitation
of natural sounds.
Q. When was the distance of stars first
determined?—E. K. H.
A. It was not until 1840 that the dis
tance of a star, Alpha Centauri, was first
measured.
Q. What amount of money has bee**
collected from Government employes for
the retirement fund?—C. L. K.
A. Through January 31, 1940, $494.
927,523.77 had been deducted from the
salaries of employes for the civil service
retirement fund.
Q. How tall is Gen. Weygand?_S. B.
A. He is 5 feet in height and weighs
only 120 pounds.
Q. What is the endurance record for
flying?—R. H.
A. On October 29, 1939. the record for
endurance flying was established at Long
Beach, Calif., by Clyde Schlieper and
Wes Carroll, who returned to the ground
after staying in the air 30 days and 6
hours.
Q. Does the Golden Rule appear in
any writings besides the Bible?—c. F.
A. The so-called Silver Rule of Con
fucius is a negative statement of tha
same: “What you do not like when done
to yourself, do not do to others.” It has
been said that he only gave the rule in
a negative form to give force to a posi
tive statement.
Q. How is the Nobel Prize Fund han
dled?—E. T. R.
A. The Nobel Fund is managed by a
board of directors, the head of which
is appointed by the Swedish government.
Q. How long have life tables for ac
tuaries been in use?—B. F.
A. The first life table for actuaries was
the Northampton table, constructed by
the Rev. Richard Price in 1771.
___’_
Co-operation
Lift up thine eyes, O laggard Earth’
Declaring Heavens point a sign
Of countless stars together held,
A unity of law divine.
Each star in its appointed place
Dims not its light nor seeks release
To mar the power of unison
That holds a Universe in peace.
The friendly stars, a wondrous whole,
With patient purpose steadfast glow; ’
In silent harmony they march
As one, while aeons come and go.
A perfect order gleams for thee,
O laggard Earth. Lift up thine eye*.
To keep thy place among the stars.
Behold a pattern in the skies.
MARGARET THORINGTON PRESTON.